MIAMI OHIO: Quarterback Gus Ragland and first-team All-MAC wide receiver James Gardner form the foundation of one of the conference's best passing attacks. With the two of them feeding off of one another, the RedHawks will be explosive offensively. They'll just need a bit of help from the running game, which should be more than doable with 2017 leading rushers Kenny Young and Alonzo Smith both returning.. Defensively, Miami returns eight starters. The problem is that the secondary is a bit depleted, which could be an issue. The RedHawks lost a lot of close games last year, and mistakes on the backend could similarly doom them in 2018.

N ILLINOIS: The Huskies are going to be incredibly tough to beat this year, as they have playmakers all over the field on both sides of the ball. 2017 MAC Defensive Player of the Year Sutton Smith is back to anchor a defense that led the nation with 8.8 tackles for loss per game, and was second in sacks per game with 3.3. He's the archetypical end for their 4-3 scheme. On the other side, QB Marcus Childers is back after winning the 2017 MAC Freshman of the Year award. He's going to be operating behind the conference's best offensive line, so expect this unit to put up a lot of points. They're the team to beat in the MAC.